Police News

April 14, 1998

AVON

* A Bloomfield man accused of pushing his ex-girlfriend and taking her car in a Feb. 20 domestic dispute was arrested on a warrant Sunday.

Police said Alexander L. Lewis, 20, of 20 Wedgewood St., had recently broken up with the woman when he showed up at the Pond Place home where she was staying and demanded to talk to her. When she refused to talk, Lewis ``forced his way in, grabbed his girlfriend and started to pull her out the door,'' Sgt. Steven Kulikowski said.

After the woman tripped and fell and another person in the house started to call police, Lewis took the woman's car keys and left in her car, Kulikowski said. Lewis later abandoned the car, Kulikowski said.

* A woman accused of damaging a police cruiser when officers refused to drive her home after charging her with operating under suspension last week was taken to the police station and booked on additional charges.

Sgt. Alan Fournier said Cynthia K. Chmielorz, 26, of 125 Wellington Drive, was driving out of a South Main Street parking lot Wednesday when an officer saw her black Chevrolet, suspected her of having a suspended license and stopped her. She sped away as the officer approached the car, Fournier said.

Chmielorz led police on a 5-mile chase from South Main onto Route 4 and Garden Street, Fournier said. When she tried to pull onto Meadow Road, she ignored a stop sign and crashed into another vehicle, the sergeant said.

After she was apprehended, Fournier said, Chmielorz demanded that police drive her to her home, less than a mile from the crash scene. When another officer, who had arrived for backup, started to leave the scene, she kicked in the cruiser's left front end, causing $317 worth of damage, Fournier said.

Chmielorz faces two counts of interfering with a police officer and single counts of third-degree criminal mischief, operating under suspension, failure to obey an officer's signal and reckless driving.

She was released on a $5,000 nonsurety bond for an April 27 appearance in West Hartford Superior Court.